Onto the trail and you'll see that the white expanse is made up of billions of crystals of almost pure table You are at Badwater, at -282 feet it is the lowest spot in the Western Hemisphere. Gneiss, so you'll have to look carefully to see the contact between the two rock types.īeneath the dark shadows of the Black Mountains, a great, extraordinarily flat expanse of shimmering white The diorite to gabbro composition of the Willow Spring pluton blends well with the dark Precambrian Quartz-feldspar gneiss dominates the mountain face above Badwater.ġ1 million years ago, these venerable rocks were injected with magma that solidified to form the Willow Spring Making their original parentage almost unrecognizable. Partially remelted by the Earth's internal heat and by the load of overlying younger rocks. Rocks were severely metamorphosed-altered, recrystallized, and Remnants of an ancient volcanic mountain belt with flanking deposits of mud and sand. Made up of some of the oldest rocks in Death Valley. The oldest rocks - Relics of the Precambrian world in Death Valley The steep face of the Black Mountains is The next large earthquake couldĬause Badwater Basin to drop a few more feet below sea level. Of the Black Mountains is another rising fault block edge. You are standing above the dropping edgeīlock that is rising on its other side toĬreate the Panamint Mountains. Hugeīlocks of land between the faults tilt like seesaws as theĮxtention continues. This geographic region-known as "Basin and Range"- is spreading apart,įracturing the earth's crust along parallel faultlines. Brine flies, shrimp and several types of plants survive in this salty, alkaline environment. The actual lowest point, 282 feet below sea level is further out in the pan, several miles to the west. Badwater is the lowest elevation in the western hemisphere you can drive to.
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